Orlando Pirates have confirmed the departure of defender Marc van Heerden. His release is part of the club’s strategy to bolster and strengthen its playing squad ahead of the CAF Champions League.

On Monday, the club announced that it had come to a mutual agreement with van Heerden to terminate his contract early. Van Heerden joined the club in January last year, but failed to secure a permanent starting spot during his 18 months at the Buccaneers.

Pirates were widely expected to release a raft of players after announcing the addition of eight new players to the squad and promising even more new players before the start of the African campaign.

Briefly.co.za gathered that the club’s administrative manager Floyd Mbele said the side had to strengthen its playing squad for the upcoming CAF African Champions League. Mbele said the Buccaneers would announce more signings in the coming weeks.

Goal.com reported that Mbele said the strengthening of the playing squad was nothing new and was actually an ongoing process.

Mbele said because Pirates would be competing and trying to win the African league next season it needed to boost its player numbers. He said if the club wanted to do well it needed to ensure there were enough players to rotate.

He pointed out that SuperSport United had struggled in the domestic season during 2017 after reaching the finals of the CAF League. In that instance, player fatigue was blamed for the poor performance.

“We've seen where have the other teams ended on the log after playing in continental competitions. We don't want to be victims,” Mbele said.

Mbele said the Buccaneers did not want to sacrifice domestic performance to do well on the continent.

Reports suggest that Mpho Makola, Thabo Matlaba, Issa Sarr, Thamsanqa Sangweni and Justice Chabalala are some of the players who are thought to be on the chopping block when the transfer window opens in July.